Rumours suggesting that the legal battle between RippleLabs and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission have come to an end continue to circulate. The crypto community has been asked to comment on the matter.
Rumours of a possible settlement are rife as early as December 15, when was it? shared in a Dec. 10 ask-me-anything (AMA) with Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, noting he had heard rumors that the case would be settled on Dec. 15 — he later reiterated He believed it was just a rumor and didn’t necessarily believe it.
Cointelegraph also realized that the rumors were unfounded.
However, there are still many opinions about what a settlement means for Ripple as well as the wider crypto industry.
In a Dec. 12 Twitter post, pro-crypto former U.S. congressional candidate January Walker opined that an unfavorable settlement from Ripple would be a “loss for the whole world & WEB3,” adding:
“The world follows the actions of the USA, and how the government handles one of us, sets precedence for how they handle all of us,” Walker said, calling for the industry to “work together.”
The actions of the USA are followed by the rest of the world. How one government handles each of us sets the precedent for how they treat all of us. We need to cooperate for the right legislation, not fight against each other.
— January Walker (@UtahPolitician) December 12, 2022
David Gokhshtein, the founder of blockchain-focused media company Gokhshtein Media, weighed in as well, commenting in a Dec. 10 Twitter post: “We need Ripple to win this case and not settle,” which he said would be a worst-case scenario.
“Worse case scenario is Ripple settles, but I don’t know if they’ll provide clarity for the entire industry,” he added.
During the Dec. 10 AMA, Hoskinson also said that a settlement could have “catastrophic implications for the industry one way or the other.”
Meanwhile, crypto attorney Jeremy Hogan, a partner at Hogan & Hogan, says there are several possible outcomes. An Dec. 10 YouTube video video, Hogan told his 157,000 subscribers that he thought there was roughly a 50% chance that Ripple wins, but a “110.6% chance of something happening shortly.”
The lawyer predicted that if Ripple wins, the most likely reason would be “it had no legal obligation to purchasers of XRP after the sale occurred, no post sale obligations, in other words there can be no investment contract without an investment contract.”
“The evidence is clear in the Ripple case that there is no ongoing legal relationship between Ripple and XRP purchasers. There’s just none, and the SEC has failed to address that problem,” he added.
He also supported an earlier Nov. 4 election. prediction by defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor James Filan that the case will be decided on or before March 31, 2023, calling it a “proclamation from a legal God.”
I remain firm in my prediction that District Judge Torres would decide the Expert Motions as well as the Summary Judgment motions simultaneously – before March 31, 2023.
— James K. Filan 126k (beware of imposters) (@FilanLaw) November 4, 2022
Related: Investors increasingly confident of Ripple’s victory over SEC: CoinShares
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, told panelists at DC Fintech Week on Oct. 11, 2018, that he expected the case against Ripple to end in the first half 2023. However it was difficult to predict.
Ripple previously stated that Ripple would be open to a settlement with SEC if XRP was not considered a security.